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Much too late, the Cowboys finally turned to Lance Dunbar for some help in the backfield. Dunbar rewarded Dallas with a big spark for the offense on Thanksgiving before going down for the year with a knee injury. Now, Dallas is looking at running backs to sign, not to replace Dunbar, but to fill in at the back of the line as Joseph Randle will likely see the bulk of the leftover carries, the ones that don't go to DeMarco Murray. The candidates:
Cowboys working out 4 RB and 1 FB this morning Armando Allen. Curtis Brinkley Delone Carter Shaun Draughn Tyler Clutts. Clutts is FB.
— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) December 3, 2013
Interesting that they are working out a fullback. Are the Cowboys thinking power-running game down the stretch?
Guess who is back to playing football? Yes, that is Jay Ratliff we'll see on Monday night, trying to revive the Bears run defense, and maybe get after Tony Romo, too. It's a sad sight to see for Cowboys fans, many of whom counted Ratliff among their favorite players. The last year or so for Ratliff and the Cowboys was anything but amicable and now he lines up as an enemy after basically getting out of Dallas by making it too hard for the Cowboys to keep him around, no matter how good of a player they thought he was. And the Cowboys expected upcoming legal action in the matter makes the dislike even stronger. This will be interesting to watch but Ratliff is trying to downplay it.
"It's just another game. It's just football," Ratliff said of the pending matchup with the Cowboys. "I don't get caught up in all that silly rivalry stuff or some payback. The thing is we're here to win, and we're going to give every effort to do that."
Ratliff played on 23 plays last week in his first action with the Bears, getting in on one tackle.
Beside Ratliff, Rod Marinelli will be facing his former team, one he voluntarily walked away from over the offseason out of his loyalty to Lovie Smith. Also, we'll get to see Martellus Bennett again, who is putting together a decent year like last year - 48 catches for 545 yards with 5 TDs. One more connection, Joe DeCamillis is the Bears special teams coordinator.
Dawn posted about Kyle Wilber yesterday, today Jerry Jones hints that Wilber just might be starting material even when Justin Durant gets back from injury.
Owner/general manager Jerry Jones stopped just short of saying Kyle Wilber had claimed the starting job at strong side linebacker. However, Jones gushed about Wilber’s performance in two games filling in for Justin Durant, who has been sidelined by a hamstring strain.
"If you [are injured] and you’re the starter, then you’re supposed to be the starter when you get back. So much for that. I’m excited about Wilber as a player, as an asset for the Cowboys."